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Well guys with the help of the membership I have built up enough courage to start on my lathe breaking it down into sections.Doing so will be looking for broken parts,gears who's teeth has not seen the dentist in yrs,do a cleaning then prepping for primer.It being Labor Day weekend I figure why not start now,so here it starts.
Remove the tailstock first as a confidence builder,took it completely apart then into the sandblasting cabinet to remove the layers of paint.That went pretty well but getting a closer look at the chrome hand wheel and levers I have to say they are not in the best shape.I sure would like to have these re-chrome but I don't know of any and I have readed that its very expensive.Anyone knows of a place that does this to where a person is not paying a small fortune for a few small pieces?Then next remove my taper attachment,dang already found a broken part.The jib,looks like someone tried to use a screwdriver on it so a 1"piece is gone.Na I guess not earth shaking but I sure would like to find a jib and just go ahead and replace it even though I will probably never use it.Into the parts washer to remove the chips and oil dang it is sticky.Posting pics is a pain using a laptop but I want to cause for me pics help out so much in explaining what I really can't put into words.Guys so far its going good so for today that's it just going to get what I've done so far ready for paint.Any suggestions or thought's please share----kroll

Grumpy Old Man

You know, someone with a lathe, could probably polish up those hand wheels. ;^) Chroming has gotten soo expensive due to the whole hazardous waste thing. You might be able to find someone that has a large chroming order and tag along with his parts. Bumper shops are almost non existent. Have you noticed that you don't find real chrome on cars these days? Its all plastic! Maybe find a restoration shop and see if you can squeeze your order in, otherwise just buff polish the outer ring, and paint the innards.
These are just the musings of an old man, who knows what the past was like, and how much nicer it was in the days of yore. I love the idea of watching you try to take pictures of parts with the selfie camera on your laptop! Best of luck on the restoration and above all enjoy doing it. Keep us informed.

Active User

Thanks Chuck,na no selfie camera here just my 10yr old digital.Anyway to my problem and its early in the game,I started on the QCGB by draining the oil.First thing I notice there are two drain plugs which I remove both,just alittle oil out of the first plug then a lot on the side with the site glass.Guessing that on the right side how do you tell the oil level which I notice in my manual that there is a small plug for oil and on the left side there is a big plug.Well I got most of the gears out but for the life of me I can't figure out how to remove tumbler shifter arm so that I can clean up and remove the rest of the gears.Any ideals on this,I have made more progress than what I though today has been a good day.So maybe tomorrow I will have enough parts seat out to do a little painting
Here's couple pics of my mess and the arm that I need to remove,thanks for the help---kroll
Sorry,pics did not go as plan

Steam crazy

The arm is connected to the shaft with a spline. Once the arms is off the shaft can move to the inside to be removed. The inside shaft has to come out with its bushes. Remove the lock screws for the bushes and remove the shaft with bushes to the left.

Active User

Update Well I should have waited,the arm had lots of crud on it and I never seen the spline.I drove a wedge in the split of the arm where the bolt was and I tap on it to hard.I now have three pieces,I just don't think the best welder can repair this due to where it has broken.My plan was to get the lathe down to where I was in a position to clean the bed by labor day but for now just going to clean up the area.Depression has set in for now,raining on my parade all the other sayings

Active User

Yes sir,I would like the manual and thank you for offering.
Well I'm a little over it,went back out and finish removing the gears and remove the apron.Lifted the spindle head off and found an abandon rats nest.But still shaking my head,what a dip I am.

Grumpy Old Man

We've all made those Dooh! mistakes. Some a lot bigger than yours, don't kick yourself. Life is a learning experience. Just go out and get a Bridgeport milling machine and whittle you out a new one! ;^) but seriously, this looks repairable, perhaps not within your original timeline, but how many times do timelines actually end up working. I'm probably at about 15% or so, the rest take a LOT longer than planned, just ask my wife about the upstairs bathroom. Relax, no life threatening problem, and best of luck.

Active Member

firstly try and locate a new/ second hand part also it's a Colchester, it's not a high load item and it's British made, The chances are it will braze well. That would be my second option next would be make a new one getting around the splines would be the difficult part perhaps a keyway and a clamp arrangement
Try Simon at Nobilla Machine Tools ltd www.nobilla.co.uk They are expensive they quoted me 175 pounds for a half nut + shipping if gold was any good as a machine part it would be cheeper to cast it in that so brazeing is a good option failing that epoxy it together and getting it cast

Active User

A friend of mine has some parts for the same lathe. He is loathe to let any of the parts go, in case his lathe needs something, but the part that you broke might be something that he has and would "part" with... pun intended...

Active User

I'm off today,so I done alittle more spraying parts with primer.So I am making some progress,the weather man told me that this weekend was going to be cooler so when that happens I will roll out the lathe bed to do some degreasing.Maybe on Sunday spray it with some primer,well I guy can dream.

Active User

Happy Saturday morning guys,well the humidity has drop some so it just feels like is cooler outside so I though I would start the day by degreasing the bed.I like using this degreaser made by Zep,it works fantastic and will remove most of the paint.Most of the time I mix it half/half but for this bed I use it full strength.There is a before/after pic of the first go round degreasing.Guys on the end of the bed I did not know there was a badge there and for some reason someone punch a hole in it.(can this be purchase from clausing) As heavy as this bed is going to use the hoist to flip it over to also do the bottom side.Any suggestions or comments??????Thanks for looking

Active User

Afternoon somebody,its noon time here and still have aways to go.What took up some time was getting the lathe in position.What I call "Flipping the lathe Redneck way" here's couple pics just for some entertainment

Active User

Good morning guys,well this past week I spent the time applying alittle bondo to the bed.Each afternoon after work I would sand the bondo then apply alittle more.I know,not only am I trying to make it one of those pretty boy lathes but a working lathe as well.Yes it is taking longer to do so but I'm not in no hurry,doing the bondo has taken me a week longer but time well spent.Just acouple more pics for some entertainment,enjoy and any comments,ideals or suggestions please post.

Active User

Good afternoon guys,well finally cooler weather has come to the south part of Texas and I am so glad.It puts me in the working mood,so yesterday and today I finish the painting of the lathe bed and mounted it to the cabinet.Dang is this thing heavy,alot more than my 12" Sears Atlas.Next week I will start on the head stock but just an inspection,and a clean up then some paint.I was told that all is good on the lathe when I purchase it so I have no reason not to believe.Maybe next weekend I will be posting so pice of the head stock if all goes well.Thanks for looking and enjoy

Active User

Good afternoon guys,have very good news about my tumbler arm.But first thanks to Brain Coral aka Brian for putting me in contact with Mec-Elecpro.Not only did he make the repairs but tested the weld just to make sure it holds and he posted the repairs on Youtube.For your entertainment purpose is a link to it

Thanks for following me on the repairs of my lathe and seeing first hand what a wonderful person Mec-Elecpro is.

Newbie

After reading page 1, I browsed ebay.co.uk for you to see if there was a replacement tumbler handle... no such luck, BUT, good to see you got this repaired already!

PS, if it's still apart, do you mind posting a photo of your X-axis cross slide leadscrew and nut? Mine is 10tpi giving me a .200" direct-reading dial. My leadscrew nut is definitely not factory, just curious if the screw itself is. Thanks!

Active User

Guys look what show up in the mail today,does this look fantastic or what.Thanks to Mec-Elecpro I am now back in business,guys I can't even see a seam or feel one.It is perfect,guys he did this for the fun of it and just to help out.For a while my back was against the wall,I was at a loss,so thanks to him and Brain Coral for putting me in contact with him.----kroll

Active User

Good afternoon guys,well I have made some progress thanks to a fantastic man up in Canada who repair my tumbler arm.I just about finish up the gear box,but all that is left on it is the leadscrew.I put the cover on it just to help keep dust out till its time to install the leadscrew.Its going very slow but I would not have it any other way,my mistakes are less.Thanks for looking-----kroll